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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

We have always had uber storage in the houses we have purchased- which we took for granted. Of coarse, we had seen all of tof those houses in person before we bought them, which helps. This is where buying a house sight unseen can pose a few unexpected surprises for you once you move in. We were not prepared for the lack of storage in the new house! You really realize just how much stuff aka junk you have when there is no where to store it!!! So this is our challenge: Where can we find, create, or manipulate space for storage??? The first space was an obvious candidate.

When we bought the house there were two little alcoves as you walked through a hallway that were completely underutilized.

This is a terrible photo of the alcoves but the only one that I have in a "before" state. You can see that the previous owners had a piece of furniture placed in the one on the left. But, sans furniture it was just empty, un-utilized space.

Step one:

Be annoyed enough to make a change!

Seeing books in the hall day after day precipitated this endeavor.

Clutter, YUCK! Bring on the bookcases.

We are so fortunate to finally be closer to my family in situations like these. My mom actually executed the bulk of the designing and building of the book cases so I am pretty weak on Steps 2-???

Towards the end though, I did take over tweaking the final design and painting.

Here I am cluing the facing trim to the shelves. We talked a lot about the design for the bookcases before hand. You can't believe how many little decisions there are to make! Honestly, I am not the best at deciding either. Usually, I don't know what I like until I can actually see it. Such was the case here. We ended up adding an additional trim piece to make the shelves look more seamless. Luckily it was a simple fix.

Mid-project.

Ready for paint.

Even though I didn't show the other bookcase- hopefully you can imagine the same thing is mimicked on the other side. I love it. It is kind of like walking through our own little library anytime you go to this side of the house. Someday I might paint the back of the bookcases a fun, different color. And I am sure I will be tweaking the placement of things on the shelves for some time, but for now it looks great! And... NO books or clutter on the floor!!! Yea!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

When we moved from Oklahoma we had mixed feelings about just how to move cross country, literally... Like how to actually move our stuff. Do we take it or do we sell it? A lot of our furniture we have had since we were first married. And truthfully, after 12 years we were ready to be done with most of it. So, we seriously thought about selling it all and starting over. But, then reality set in. While on one hand the thought of starting from scratch was very appealing- it was also very terrifying for a cheapskate like me! So, we ended up doing a little of both. We sold some stuff, donated some stuff, left some stuff, brought some stuff. As was the case with our dining tables and chairs. In a moving truck they take up an incredible amount of space so we compromised and only brought one. However, that left us lacking in the new house. After a few weeks of looking and a couple failed attempts- this is what I decided on.

I say "failed attempts" because this is the third table I brought home. The first was too small, the second too rectangular and while I wish I could say this one was just right... really all I thought when I first saw it was that it was too ugly!

I went back and forth on this set for about a week. I kept thinking about the chairs and loved the base of the table. I thought about just buying the set for the chairs and chucking the rest... but being as cheap as I am I knew that was never a real possibility. I just kept hoping- with a little color perhaps it would be workable!

The table came with 2 leaves which when added turn it in to quite a hefty table!

Here you can see what the table looks like in process and with the 2 leaves in it.

Yet again I failed to get photos of me spending hours upon hours sanding this puppy. Above you can see the primer stage- which I am feeling a little "meh" about. I say that because I ended up slightly distressing the set and primer always gets in the way of a clean bare wood distressing. But, it's not too bad. Initially I was not going to distress it at all so I wanted the most even finish possible, hence the sanding and priming... but then I changed my mind. Could have saved myself loads of hassle and time- oh well...

It always amazes me what a little distressing can do for detail and character...

Friday, October 12, 2012

Well, to paint or not to paint is not really the question... Hands down I always vote for PAINT! However, currently I am running out of space and am way backed up on projects. So, this one I am going to offer up to any would be buyer as is.

If you are interested in having it painted, I can do that as well- just let me know what color, or you can look at my selection and we can go from there. But, for now it is just being sold as is.

It is in great condition. Obviously it is a used set so it does have normal wear and tear but the whole set is quite solid. Nothing wobbly here! It also already has felt pads on the legs and feet so it won't scratch your floors. Would be great in a small eat-in space, but I can also see it being used with the leaves down as a kids computer desk.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

This is one of the last pieces I did before we moved from Oklahoma. Things got so crazy towards the end I really didn't have the time to focus on selling anything. So, this one came with us. Now that things have settled down from the move though, I am ready to part with this one.

Vintage Blue Full Size Headboard

Dimensions: 54" Width X 40.5" Height

~SOLD~

This is a true vintage piece with an updated flair. The brilliant blue is accented by just a tad of distressing.

I have been toiling over my blog~ Okla-HOME-a ever since the idea of us moving became a possibility. While I have been able to put it off for months now- I think it is finally I addressed the inevitable.

Now that we live in the great Northwest it doesn't make much sense for me to keep the blog name Okla-home-a, but should I name this new endeavor? I have thought of bringing back the "The Green Room" a name and concept I latched on to years ago but could never really make work... I have also tossed around the name "Ta-HOME-a" which references the Native American word Tahoma (a local reference to Mt. Rainier) but wasn't quite convinced... Then this morning I was kind of struck by the name "Northwesterly." It kind of captures the quirky-ness of this new place we now call home and even though I am not exactly sure just yet- I think I am going to live with it for a few days and see what I think..